Au nanoparticle-doped Co3O4–CoFe2O4@SiO2 as a catalyst for visible-light-driven water oxidation

摘要: We proposed a facile method to systematically fabricate Co-based oxides as water oxidation catalysts (WOCs) for oxygen evolution under visible light irradiation. The results suggested that as-prepared Co3O4–CoFe2O4, Co3O4–CoFe2O4@SiO2 and Co3O4–CoFe2O4@SiO2@Au are excellent the reaction, while shows best catalytic activity, an O2 yield of 71.24% can be obtained. To gain insights into relationship between structural details functional behaviors, were characterized using various analytical tools, respectively. SEM TEM analyses showed average size nanoparticles was about 500 nm three surface Co3O4–CoFe2O4 catalyst covered by floc layer SiO2. XRD EDS studies confirmed Au present in nanocomposites. From above experimental results, we concluded reason why superior performance over other two may due to: (1) large refractive index low dielectric constant SiO2 (e = 1.56); (2) metal effectively harvest wide range sunlight containing UV because its plasmonic effect. Our research used efficient